I care!
by stevieLUVSAlex
Summary: *Alternate ending* for FAULT! One-shot. Romance and fluff. : Please R&R... you wont be disappointed, I think... :


_A/N: Okay, so I was reading some FF from babyel… I think was her penname. So thanks for your story about Gitano, mine is on the same wave length, it branched off my idea for this one. This is set at the end of the Gitano episode as well and it continues from their conversation at the station. It's only a one-shot and only short and OBVIOUSLY my own creation, cause Wolff is really NOT that nice. Lol. All characters belong to Dick… _

_StevieLUVSAlex_

The tears built up in Olivia's eyes as she glanced back at her partner. "You and this job are the only thing I got anymore… I don't want to wreck that." Elliot's eyes focused on a spot on the floor beneath their feet.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Don't lay that crap on me," she hissed. "I know what this is, it's your way of telling me your scared chicken-"

"Hey, Liv…"

"NO!" she snapped. "You tell me I'm important, but you're ready to abandon me. No… I don't believe you for a second. I'll tell you what I do know El, I won't let you justify this with some lame attempt to tell me how much you care!" she was angry… and scared, that what he was saying was the truth. Maybe they'd worked together too long, maybe it was time to switch partners and learn something somewhere else. But the thought scared her, as much as the thought of him being struck by a bullet and killed in the line of duty.

"It's not what I'm saying," he said through clenched teeth. Elliot was feeling it too, the fear of unknown territory, of stepping out of his comfort zone. "I do care… I just think-"

Olivia stood from the bench cutting him off. "That you're better off without me. Fine."

"Liv…"

"Okay," she threw her hands into the air in frustration as she tried to explain herself rationally. "I know we did the wrong thing, I know that we chose each other over the victim or catching the perp, or- I don't give a damn. You're the only man I have in my life, and you want me to walk away from that?"

Elliot shrugged, his eyes clouded with darkness. "I don't know that we have any other way. It's the job or US, we can't have it both ways, you know we can't."

Olivia held her breath as she considered his words. Slowly she let out a breath. "I… I don't think I'm ready to lose you."

Elliot refused to meet her gaze.

"Are you?"

"The community depends on it."

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked looking down at him. "And what about ME, El?" she repeated, more forcefully this time.

"What do you want from me, Olivia?" he finally raised his eyes to hers, and held her gaze. His eyes told her everything his mouth wouldn't.

"The truth…" she whispered.

"It's not that easy," he replied.

Olivia shuffled her feet.

"Is this about being without someone familiar?" she pressed. "Is that what you're afraid of, losing what you know… or is it me?"

"You know the answer to that," he warned.

For the first time in all the years they'd worked together, she saw how afraid he was of his own shadow. "I do… I just wish you were man enough to say it." She turned to leave, but he was quick to stand from the bench and seize her arm.

She looked into his face to discover the truth was evident in his eyes.

"You are all I have left, I will NOT lose you, do you understand me?" he stated matter-of-factly. "I care about you too much."

"Care?" she laughed bitterly.

Elliot knew what she was asking of him, but he wasn't sure he had that much to give. "Liv, I can't offer you a life right now… I'm too messed up," he said.

Olivia nodded, the tears stinging her eyes. "I know…"

"You do?"

"Yes. But if its okay with you, I'm just going to admit what's going on in here," she held her hand to her heart. "And tell you I'm in love with you, I have been since the first moment you told me to pull my head in and focus, and I've been falling ever since." Her voice trembled in fear of his response.

A small smile crept across his face. "Yeah," he nodded. "I knew that."

"Good," she nodded.

He pulled her into his arms and held her, saying nothing as she clung to him, in the hope that someday soon, he would sort out his life and find a place for Olivia Benson to fit.

_Yeah, I know… but I wanted to leave it in a place where it was possible to leave out and continue with the show as WAS. I just couldn't let the opportunity pass to write this. I hope you FF readers liked reading it as much as I did writing it. Lol. (Just a phrase my friend Corie and I used to write at the end of every letter)_

_Please press that cute little button below and let me know what you thought :)_


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